The annual convention of the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) was bigger than ever in 2014. Beginning September 10 and ending September 13, over 480 exhibitors filled the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. There were 110 different specialty training sessions offered this year, of which 48 had never been presented before. The dominant theme for home entertainment: cutting edge technology combined with low profile design and ultra large screens. Nearly 19,000 people made their way through demonstrations, displays, and classes. CEDIA is the Olympics of residential technology, featuring new products, classes and awards.
AHT Wins The Gold!
Crestron held its annual awards ceremony at CEDIA. AHT was awarded with the coveted 2014 Gold Crestron Award for “Most Extreme Makeover”. The technology make-over that AHT installed in the Crestron award winning project was from an analog Crestron system to a digital Crestron system. Below are the specific details for the award winning project.
Consultations with AHT resulted in forward-thinking conversion from the 2-Series Crestron processor to a powerful 3-Series Control System, with enhanced color LCD panel. This change alone provided much more memory, allowing for future expansion. With the Sonnex Multiroom Audio System and with the CEN-NSP1 Network Stream Player also added, the entire home now has a variety of choices for high-quality sound to share music from iPod, iPhone, or iPad through the whole house audio system. AHT recommended an upgrade of the home entertainment distribution system to a DigitalMedia infrastructure with 4K capabilities. Sleek 10″ TSW touch screens with eye-popping GUI prompts by Crestron Smart Graphics replaced existent 6-inch in-wall touch screens and complicated choice options. Now access to Kaleidescape and BluRay players, cable boxes, Apple TV, and much more is streamlined for the Penthouse through one system. The homeowner is ecstatic with the results of the makeover.
Exciting Product Annoucements
As expected, CEDIA 2014 Expo showcased a few new cutting-edge devices and programs sure to revolutionize every aspect of home electronics. One particular innovation Crestron®introduced is truly an exciting new tool, sure to dominate the field of electronics. Planar, a U.S. video display manufacturer, also had a major product announcement.
Pyng™: Home Automation
Last month AHT hinted at the exciting new Crestron innovation slated for reveal at the CEDIA Expo. One tantalizing hint was the announcement that Crestron’s “Pyng software” was a finalist for CEDIA’s “Manufacturer’s Excellence Award”. You can read our previous post about Crestron Pyng here.
Crestron, a leader in the home automation industry, was the star of CEDIA 2014 Expo – presenting Pyng. From the moment you wake to when your head hits the pillow at night, Crestron Pyng makes life easier, more enjoyable, and more secure. Pyng empowers homeowners with simplified set-up of a variety of electronic devices enabling centralized command. Nearly every component of the home now can be tailored to the tastes of the homeowner. From the lights and window shades to the heating and air, to the audio and video system and even security, Pyng app automates, stores, enables cloud storage and remote command and control. Chic custom engraved buttons personalized with individual tastes and unique language homeowners select enables them with a mere tap or touch the ability to launch their devices. Pyng even allows remote access through the cloud. Imagine the possibilities – a specific button commands the entire home fills with music that perhaps softly trickles forth to welcome dinner guests – perhaps another engages the window screens to gracefully and quietly lift, and yet another engages the magnificent 90″ screen to rise from the earth and capture the attention of everyone. Or, should the host instead wish to pre-program it all for one command, it may all be done in one touch. The bones are exquisite on this development. One can only marvel at what is possible in the future with Pyng.
Ultra-Res™ 4K Series from Planar Systems
Planar brought BIG excitement to CEDIA 2014 with their UltraRes 4K displays. High Definition television has 1920 x 1080 pixels. The Planar UR9850 has four times that with 3840 x 2160 pixels in a 98” screen. A very slim profile and nearly invisible (slightly over 21 mm) bezel with front access kick stand make a sleek and sexy wall display. UltraRes MediaPlex™ built-in software provides homeowners choices of up to eight source inputs. Four may be viewed simultaneously in the quadrant view. If desired any one can be switched to full 4K display and fill the entire screen. Specs for the UR9850 report 16:9 ratio with D-LED backlight. Contrast ratio is 20,000:1 with 5 ms response time for a full 10 bit data path display of greater than one billion colors. It can transition from 2D and passive glasses to continuous stereo 3D smoothly, creating a myriad of possibilities for design and development of business applications.
The UR9850 provides clear resolution up close as well as distance, and does so with no noise of fans or other ambient noise. If power sources fail it maintains its own backup system for continued use, yet is environmentally sound utilizing at max consumption 600W. Planar has definitely stepped things up a notch, and very likely one of the sleekest features is the absence of logo. Planar presented BIG, and did so by letting the UR9850 speak for itself.
AHT designers, consultants and innovators are well-trained in planning each new component introduced at CEDIA, and as expected, are already planning for next year’s CEDIA Expo, and what amazing new AHT installations will again be recognized as award-winning!